It is well known to provide confectionery chips suitable for including in baked products, such as chocolate chips. These chips are provided in a number of different chocolate flavors, for instance milk chocolate and bittersweet chocolate, and can also be provided in other flavors such as butterscotch or peanut butter flavor. However, the chips all have as at least a part of the particulate base, a large amount of sugar (sucrose). Sugar (sucrose) has a very dominant sweet flavor which would tend to mask other flavors, or be incompatible with other flavors, such as tomato flavoring, cheese, meat or chicken flavoring.
Applicants know of no baking chip formulations developed or marketed, other than the aforementioned, such as chocolate, buterscotch or peanut butter flavored chips, or more specifically, of baking chip formulations which are non-sweet. By the term "non-sweet", it is meant that sugar or other sweet polysaccharides, if present, would be present in less than a sweetening amount.
The patent literature describes fat-based, solid or hard products which have a non-sweet flavor. However, these have traditionally been formulated for the preparation of foods such as soups and gravies, by reconstitution with water, or for addition to salads and the like. The products are not suitable for use as chips at baking temperatures.
An example of the prior art is Penton U.S. Pat. No. 3,652,299, which describes a sauce concentrate, in the form of a brittle solid at normal room temperature, containing about 20-40% edible fat, about 20-40% starch, and about 20-40% food solids flavoring material. The concentrate is said to be readily dispersible in hot water (e.g., 212 degrees Fahrenheit). There is no reference to baking temperatures (300-400 degrees Fahrenheit). In the present invention, starch would not be a necessary, or even functional, ingredient.
The Gilmarten U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,825, describes chunked-cheese flavor compositions comprising a blend of hard and soft fats, and cheese-flavored dry material (about 40-95%). The product is said to resemble a cheese block or chunks of cheese, having the same texture and appearance. Here also, no reference is made to suitability of the product for use in food products subjected to baking temperatures.
A Huessy U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,977 describes an extruded cut product in the form of cubes or pellets, said to be suitable for addition to soups, salads and casseroles. The product contains about 11-18% vegetable oil, wheat flour, buttermilk solids, corn syrup solids, whey, soy and soy flour, and is said to have a cheese-like consistency. No numerical data is given with regard to the vegetable oil, or on the properties of the cubes or pellets (e.g., hardness and textures). As with the Penton patent, flour in the present invention would not be necessary or even functionally desirable.
Luck U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,993, assigned to assignee of the present application, describes a sauce bar having a glossy surface. The sauce bar contains about 4-60 parts fat, about 15-40 parts flour or starch, and about 5-45 parts condiment solids. The sauce bar is formulated primarily for addition to water, making on reconstitution, a flavored sauce.
In prior applications Ser. Nos. 592,176 and 597,557, filed Mar. 22, 1984 and Apr. 6, 1984, respectively now U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,569,847, issued 2/11/86, and 4,567,047, issued 1/28/86, respectively, both assigned to assignee of the present application, there is disclosed the concept of replacing cocoa powder and sugar of a confectionery coating with a cheese powder to make a cheese-flavored coating. The coatings may be applied to a farinaceous substrate such as crackers, croutons, bread sticks and pretzels, and also to non-farinaceous substrates such as meat centers. The formulations are not designed for use at high baking temperatures such as 300-400 degrees Fahrenheit.
In prior patent application Ser. No. 577,393, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,079, issued 12/31/85, also assigned to assignee of the present application, there is described the preparation of savory coatings which are substantially free of sugar, which have a chewy texture, and which have a recognizable but delicate non-chocolate, non-sweet flavor of a meat, vegetable, fowl or fish food group. The coatings comprise a matrix-forming amount of a hard butter, a flavoring amount of a flavoring material of at least one of said food groups, and an inert particulate bland base material in the hard butter. The base material is a blend of carbohydrates and proteins designed to provide friability, blandness and non-hygroscopicity, properties required of the coating. The presence of a minimum amount of a friable ingredient is important to achieve a desired particle size reduction during preparation of the coatings. The coatings of this invention, as with those of Ser. Nos. 592,176 and 597,557, are not suitable for use at high baking temperatures, for instance temperatures in the range of 300-400 degrees Fahrenheit.